Telephone attachment



March 9, 1943. 4 c, KQLODQ 2,313,333

TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT.

" Filed July 8. 1941 INVENTOR. CWA R 4 5 K04 0011 Patented Mar. 9, 1943UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE TELEPHONE ATTACHMENT Charles Kolodny,Baltimore, Md.

Application July 8, 1941, Serial No. 401,517

Claims. (Cl. 179-185) My invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in telephone attachments, and more particularly to asanitary device therefor, the primary object being to provide anattachment which may be applied readily to the mouth-piece ortransmitter of either the wall type or French type telephones to insurecleanliness and avoid transmission of germs.

Various devices have been suggested from time to time for the purpose ofpresenting a sanitary mouth-piece for telephones, but due to thecomplicated construction thereof, cost of manufacture and possibleinterference with telephone communications, the same have not beenadopted. My invention contemplates a simple and durable device which maybe quickly and readily applied or removed, one which is simple andinexpensive to manufacture and which will not in any sense whatsoeverinterfere with or conflict with transmission of messages.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a devicecarrying a roll of sanitary paper capable of being drawn across thetransmitter at will and torn, and then destroyed.

A still further object resides in the provision of a flexible elementremovably attached to the paper support and adapted to be resilientlyand removably engaged with the mouth-piece or transmitter of thetelephone.

A further object of the invention resides in constructing a support forthe roll of paper which will enable the latter to be readily drawnacross a plane forward of the transmitter and. torn from the supportwithout effort.

A still further object resides in providing a device of the characterdescribed which is simple and durable in construction, inexpensive tomanufacture and one which will be very efiicient in use.

With these and numerous other objects in view my invention consists inthe novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of partsas will be hereinafter referred to and more particularly pointed out inthe specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application,

Figure l is a side elevation of a telephone of the French type showingmy sanitary attachment in place thereon;

Figure 2 is a plan view thereof;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the receiver shown on an enlarged scalewith my improved attachment applied to the transmitter;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 4-4 ofFigure 5, with parts in elevation;

Figure 5 is a central vertical longitudinal section taken on the line5-5 of Figure 4, with the receiver shown in elevation;

Figure 6 is a front face view of the attachment removed, and

Figure 7 is a rear face view thereof.

In describing the invention, I shall refer to the drawing in whichsimilar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, and in which the numeral l designated a telephoneinstrument of the French type, wherein the receiver 2 thereof has theear piece 3 at one end and the mouth-piece or'transmitter 4 at theopposite end. While I have shown my attachment as applied andparticularly applicable to the mouth-piece of this type of telephoneinstrument, it will be understood, of course, that it may be applied totransmitters, or mouthpieces of other types of phone instruments.

Carriers of various diseases transmit the germs through the mouth and ithas been discovered that telephone instruments aid and abet in thetransmission of such germs. It is the purpose of my invention to providea device, simple in construction, and inexpensive to maintain, which maybe readily attached to the mouth-piece to present at all times a cleanand sanitary locality on the telephone, against whichor adjacent towhich the mouth of the speaker may be placed.

My attachment generally comprises a support 5 of plate-like formationcarrying a roll 8 of sanitary paper or the like, and a removable ordetachable means I for resiliently and removably engaging the supportwith the mouth-piece of the telephone. The plate 5 has one end thereofformed into a partial housing, the latter being designated by thenumeral 8. This is accomplished by forming at one end of the plate an upstanding wall 9 and side walls l0. Applied thereover is a top member I Ihaving side walls [2 and a front wall l3. This housing supports a shaftI4 on which the roll of paper 6 is mounted, as clearly shown in Figure 5of the drawing. As seen in Figures 6 and 7, the shaft M has an angularend and a pin passing through the opposite end so as to retain the 'samein place, but obviously the pin may be readily removed and a new roll ofpaper inserted when necessary.

The paper from the roll 6, as clearly shown in Figures 5 and 6 of thedrawing, is guided through a slot I5 in the bottom of the housing 8 andextends over the front face of the plate 5, being guided in positionthereover by the bent ears l6 formed integral with the side edges ofsaid plate 5. After extending for the greater length of the plate 5, thepaper is guided through a second slot I! formed transversely of theplate adjacent the end thereof opposite that supporting the housing 8,and the paper is adapted to extend to a point beyond the free edge [8 ofthe plate or support 5. That portion of the plate between the free edgel8 and the slot I! is depressed from the front face thereof as shown atl9 to provide hemispherical projection on the rear face of the plate.These projections have a tendency to force the free end of the web ofpaper extended through the slot l7 away from the plate 5, as clearlyshown in Figure 5, so that the paper may be drawn across the plate fromthe roll without effort.

The central portion of the plate is perforated, as shown at 20, so thatno serious obstruction occurs at the point where the voice passes to thetransmitter. The plate is also struck-up from a plurality of positionssurrounding the perforations 20 to form the angular bent ears 2|. Theseear-s constitute engaging and supporting means for the transmitterengaging means I.

The transmitter engaging means I may be of any desired shape but ispreferably hemispherical and formed of rubber, synthetic rubber, metalor plastic resilient material. I do not wish to be limited as to thecharacter of material to be used in constructing this means, although Ihave found rubber to be cheap and effective. An opening is formed at theend of this hemispherical member 1 whereby the same may be resilientlysnapped in place on the angularly bent ears 2i of the plate 5. Thismember 1 may be readily and snugly engaged with the mouthpiece ortransmitter 4 of the telephone, and in order to aid and assist in theretention of this means on the mouth-piece, the curved arms 22 may beprovided on the member I by integral or other connection. Thus thetransmitter engaging means may be readily applied, with the platethereon so that the paper from the roll 6 will cover the front of thetransmitter. This paper may be drawn from the roll at will, torn 01f anddestroyed, so that each user of the instrument will have a clean andsanitary location adjacent to which his mouth may be placed. If desired,the paper may be used also as a memorandum sheet, and that portion ofthe plate 5 between the slot [5 and the ears 2| may be used as a backeror support for the paper when writing thereon.

From the foregoing description of the construction of my improvedinvention, it will be seen that I have provided a simple, inexpensiveand eflicient means for carrying out the various objects of theinvention.

While I have particularly described the ele-' ments best adapted toperform the functions set forth, it is obvious that various changes inform, proportion and in the minor details of construction may beresorted to, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any oftheprinciples of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate, a casingfor a roll of paper at one end of said plate having a removable sectionconstituting a closure therefor, means to guide the web of paper acrosssaid plate, raised means on said plate to prevent the paper fromadhering 75.

to said plate, and a substantially hemispherical elastic memberdetachably mounted on the rear face of said plate and being ofdimensions adapted to fit snugly about and frictionally grip themouth-piece of a telephone.

2. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate carryinga sanitary element and having a perforated area covered by the sanitaryelement, a substantially hemispherical flexible member adapted to fitabout and having frictional gripping engagement with the mouthpiece of atelephone, and means for detachably securing said flexible member to therear face of said supporting plate in encircling relation to theperforated area thereof.

3. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate carryinga sanitary element, ears cut from the plate and projecting from the rearface of said plate about a perforated area of the plate, and asubstantially hemispherical flexible member having an opening therein,the ears of said plate passing through the opening and gripping walls ofthe said member about margins of the opening, said hemispherical memberbeing adapted for frictional and encircling engagement with themouth-piece of a telephone.

4. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate carryinga sanitary element, and a substantially hemispherical elastic memberdetachably engaged with and extending rearwardly from the rear face ofsaid plate about a perforated area thereof and adapted for encirclingand frictional engagement with the mouth-piece of a telephone toremovably mount the plate across a telephone receiver with theperforated area of the plate in front of the receiver. I

5. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate, asanitary element carried thereon comprising a roll of paper having thewebrthereof guided over the front face of said plate, raised means onsaid plate to prevent the web of paper from adhering to the latter, anda substantially hemispherical rubber member detachably engaged with therear face of the plate, said rubber member being of dimensions adaptingsame to enclose and elastically grip the mouth-piece of a telephone.

6. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate carryinga sanitary element, ears formed on the rear face of said plate andextending downwardly therefrom in spaced relation'to each other about anarea intermediate the length and width of the plate, and a substantiallycup-like member formed of elastic material and having an enlargedcentral opening therein, the cup-shaped member being snapped into placeabout the ears of said 'plate to detachably hold the said member inengagement with the plate, said cup-like member having yieldable jawsfor frictional encircling engagement with the mouth-piece of atelephone.

'7; In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate havingtransverse slots therein adjacent opposite ends thereof, a roll of papersupported at one end of said plate having the web thereof guided throughsaid slots so that the paper extends over the outer face of the platebetween the slots, means for guiding the paper as it is drawn across theplace, bosses spaced from each other transversely thereof and extendingdownwardly therefrom adjacent the end of the plate opposite thatsupporting the rollv of paper and constituting means to direct the paperaway from the under face of the plate and enable same to be readilygrasped, and means for supporting the plate on the mouth-piece of atelephone.

8. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate havingtransverse slots therein adjacent opposite ends thereof, a roll of papersupported at one end of said plate having the web thereof guided throughsaid slots so that the paper extends over the outer face of the platebetween the slots, means for guiding the paper as it is drawn across theplate between the slots, projections formed on the under face of theplate between the end thereof opposite that supporting said roll ofpaper and the adjacent slot, whereby to direct the end of the web awayfrom the under face of the plate to enable ready grasping thereof, andmeans for detachably supporting the plate on the mouth-piece of atelephone.

9. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate, meanscarried by said plate for holding a supply of paper, means to guide thepaper across said plate, said plate being provided with raised portionsto prevent the free end of the paper from adhering to the plate, andmeans for detachably mounting said plate against the front end of atelephone transmitter comprising a shell of elastic material having theform of a substantially truncated hemisphere and open at its front andrear ends, said shell being of a depth and diameter adapting it to fitabout a telephone transmitter in frictional gripping engagementtherewith for the entire circumference of said transmitter, and tonguesextending" rearwardly from the open rear ,end of said shell in spacedrelation to each other circumferentially thereof for gripping thetelephone transmitter therebetween and assisting in holding the shell inengagement with the transmitter.

10. In a sanitary attachment for telephones, a supporting plate, a rollof paper mounted at one end of said plate, means to guide the web ofpaper across said plate, said plate being provided with raised portionsto prevent the free end of the paper from adhering to the plate, andmeans for detachably holding said plate against the front end of atelephone transmitter in covering relation thereto comprising a shell ofelastic rubber having the form of a substantially truncated hemisphereopen at its front and rear ends and having its open front end detachablymounted against the rear face of said plate, said shell being of a depthand diameter adapting it to fit snugly about a telephone transmitter infrictional gripping engagement therewith for the entire circumference ofthe transmitter.

CHARLES KOLODNY.

